While Kenya celebrated Internet Freedom Day yesterday social networks have been active with users expressing their views on the prosecution of bloggers and other social media users for alleged hate speech.
The latest case involving Abraham Mutai, a blogger who was arrested on Saturday, rang throughout social media with the hashtag #FreeMutai trending in Kenya.
The blogger was accused of using social media to cause anxiety. Kenyans took to twitter to express their sentiments about the arrest of the blogger. Thanks to the calls on social media, Mutai was released on a personal bonds on Sunday, but the progress of his case is not known.
Immediately after his arrest, Mutai's personal blogs and social media accounts were removed, with no details of who was behind the move.
In a television interview on NTV, Mutai said he didn't know how his blogs and social media accounts were taken down.
Two weeks ago, another social media user, Alan Wadi Okengo, 25 was jailed for two years for writing insulting updates about the president on his Facebook page. The student pleaded guilty and was quickly sentenced.
Yet another social media user, Nancy Mbindalah was also arrested for criticising the county government of Embu.
Last year, controversial blogger Robert Alai also found himself on the wrong side of the law when he was arrested for sharing the president's phone number on social media.
The police are also being accused of double standards. Moses Kuria, a member of parliament allied to the ruling party, has been accused by the National Integration Cohesion Commission of using his social media profiles to level hatred at a particular community.
Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) came to the defence of bloggers who have found themselves on a collision with the administration.
"While we do not, in any way condone the behaviour of some online content creators, be they our members or not, we find the rulings punitive and a means to discourage free speech online. These three cases of Allan Wadi, Robert Alai and Nancy Mbindalah have brought to light the government's curtailing of free speech by the Kenyan online community and the limitations to their rights as Kenyan Citizens," Bake said.
The bloggers association announced that they also began an online campaign, termed Monitor.co.ke, to create awareness to bloggers about their freedom of speech. They are also working towards having legal representations for their members who are wrongly accused.
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